Photos app did not open my iPhoto library

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Photos app did not open my iPhoto library

I searched the forums but didn't find an answer...

I recently upgraded to 10.10.3, looking forward to trying out the Photos app. My understanding is that on the first launch, Photos should open up the existing iPhoto library. However, I had my iPhoto library outside of the Home>Pictures folder. Additionally, while Yosemite was updating, one of my kids plugged in their iOS device, causing iPhoto to open when I previously had it closed. In any case, when Photos opened, I didn't get a dialogue to use my existing iPhoto library, and there was just a blank library. I went to Preferences, and there is an area that shows "Library location", but there is not a button for me to select the iPhoto library. The button just says, "Show in Finder", which brings me to the Finder.

Aside from manually dragging and importing several thousand photos over from iPhoto to Photos, is there a way for me to have Photos use the existing iPhoto library? Thanks for any help on this!

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Apr 11, 2015 9:08 AM

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Answer 1

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Eric Root

Level 10

684,027 points

Apr 11, 2015 12:52 PM in response to Jody Bohdy

Photos/File/Import.

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Answer 2

Jody Bohdy Author

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Apr 11, 2015 1:05 PM in response to Eric Root

Doing this does not allow me to select my iPhoto library. It is greyed out.

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

194,647 points

Apr 11, 2015 1:41 PM in response to Jody Bohdy

Doing this does not allow me to select my iPhoto library. It is greyed out.

And that is good so. Importing a photo library would create a mess of duplicates - thumbnails, previews, faces ...

You do not import a library, you open it.

To switch between libraries hold down the alt/options key ⌥, while you double click the Photos icon to launch it. That will show the library chooser panel. Just like in iPhoto.
Select your iPhoto Library to open.
Once Photos has upgraded your library open the Photos Preferences and make the new library your System Photo Library. Only the System Photo Library can use iCloud and id visible in the Media Browser in other apps.

After upgrading the iPhoto Library, you will find it renamed with "migrated" in the filename extension. And about the same size as the new Photos library. Don't delete the old iPhoto Library, in case you need to repeat the migration, if their should be issues. First test it thoroughly.

The Photos Library is sharing the media files with your iPhoto Library using hard links. so no additional storage is required for the second library.

Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries - Apple Support

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